1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments described herein relate to the field of microsurgical probes. More particularly, embodiments described herein are related to the field of endoillumination using decentered fiber launch.
2. Description of Related Art
The field of microsurgical procedures is evolving rapidly. Typically, these procedures involve the use of probes that are capable of reaching the tissue that is being treated or diagnosed. Such procedures make use of endoscopic surgical instruments having a probe coupled to a controller device in a remote console. Current state of the art probes are quite complex in operation, often times requiring moving parts that are operated using complex mechanical systems. In many cases, an electrical motor is included in the design of the probe. Most of the prior art devices have a cost that makes them difficult to discard after one or only a few surgical procedures. Furthermore, the complexity of prior art devices leads generally to probes having cross sections of several millimeters. These probes are of little practical use for ophthalmic microsurgical techniques. In ophthalmic surgery, dimensions of one (1) mm or less are preferred, to access areas typically involved without damaging unrelated tissue.
Because of the relatively small aperture, endoilluminators for the interior of the eye face additional challenges. First, the endoilluminator must couple efficiently to the probe to provide enough light energy to reach the interior of the eye. Second, because the probe tip is so small, the light must be able to spread over a wide solid angle to illuminate the surgical field (ideally corresponding to an in-plane angle of seventy degrees or greater). Both of these considerations have made it difficult to produce small gauge endoilluminators.